The volume of trade between Egypt and Iraq is set to surpass $2.5 billion before year-end, Egypt's charge d'affaires in Baghdad said Friday, June 15.

"Egyptian-Iraqi relations are constantly improving at all levels, and the volume of trade between the two countries will pass $2.5 billion in 2001," Mahmud Sherif Rayhan said, quoted by Al-Iraq newspaper.

"Numerous joint projects, notably in the construction sector, are set to be carried out by Egyptian companies," Rayhan said, adding that Cairo was "working to get the embargo on Iraq lifted."

Iraqi Trade Minister Mohammad Mehdi Saleh said in April that trade between Iraq and Egypt within the UN's oil-for-food program stood at some 2 billion dollars a year.

Egypt, with which Iraq enjoys a free-trade agreement, is currently Baghdad's third-largest trade partner behind France and Russia, according to Saleh. ― (AFP, Baghdad)